Webministries TV

Walton Castle: The Breaking Down Of Strongholds

Many people in Felixstowe will be surprised to hear that there was a Walton Castle in Suffolk and possibly even more surprised that it was actually in what is now Old Felixstowe. It's no longer with us but part of the maritime history of the peninsula as it remained an active fort off and on until Henry II demolished the inner bailey and gates in 1176.

I found it remarkable that so much of Burgh Castle remained, although it has also lost a quarter of its walls through coastal erosion and clay mining. It was an imposing fort and the smaller Walton Castle would have been much the same.

I went on to talk about spiritual strongholds. These are ideas and patterns of behaviour (habits if you like), or even obsessions or addictions that each of us have which can be difficult or even impossible to break away from, however sensible and logical alternatives may be. In a practical sense they are those things that prevent people from realising who God is and what he has done for the human race in Jesus Christ.

How do they get broken down. One way is through knowledge - and God has given each of us the information we need in his written word, the Bible. He has also given us a means of communication with him - prayer. What changes everything is God's Spirit. God himself is a mind-changer. He makes the knowledge stick and make sense. He can give us the power to release us from the sorts of patterns of behaviour and addictions that keep us form following Jesus and are probably blighting our lives.

If you're a Christian you're probably already aware of what you have in your life that's a stronghold. Pray and ask the Holy Spirit to free you from that stronghold Ask someone to pray with you about it. However impossible you think your situation is, God has the power to change things by His Spirit.

If you don't know Jesus yet, but want to know and understand ab out spiritual things, then just your interest is probably a prompting of the Holy Spirit! Ask him to reveal to you the truth about God so that you can come into that living relationship with God that he wants you to have and has alrwady provided a way to it in Jesus Christ.